March 1708 (6)
= The Herald of Europe - March 1708 = Weather this month *Becalmed in the Black Sea, Caspian, and the Mediterranean. *Rain in India. *Storms in the West Indies. Events Of Importte Pertaining To Recent Matters Ipek *Patriarch Kalinik I Skopljanac has agreed to the purchase of a locally made icon of St. Sava by Graf von Goess for the Kaiser. Von Goess thanked His Eminence, and then said that while he fully understands the reluctance of Ottoman authorities to see recruits permanently leave Rumelia, it would only be a temporary absence as they would return after training as parish priests. Skopljanac just shook his head, “Such subtleties would probably be lost on them,” he said. “Well if you are unable to get the necessary special permission from the Ottomans the Kaiser might be willing to endow a Uniate Seminary in Pec, at Ipek itself, provided you endorse it and Ottoman authorities are willing to tolerate and protect it,” Goess countered. “That sounds more workable. For my part, that has my blessing,” replied the Patriarch. Samana *In driving rain thousands of Moghul lancers swept around Samana to the south side while lighter irregular horsemen of the Tabinan regiments had gone before them and encountered at close quarters Prince Bajjha Singh of Samana and 7,000 spearmen on foot who seem to have been heading out of town and for the hills. On encountering the Tabinan the Jat tribesmen scampered into Samana, unsure of how many Moghul horsemen were at large due to the restricted visibility created by the monsoon rains. Once inside Prince Bajjha’s men were confronted by yet more Moghul cavalrymen who had entered the town from the north side. However, on becoming aware of large numbers of warriors entering Samana these Moghul horsemen withdrew, abandoning the town which is now cut off on all sides by Nur Jahan’s Moghul forces. Kassel *Baron Werder has informed Landgraf Karl of Hesse-Kassel that the ‘church’ he refers to is in fact a cathedral. “Although referred to affectionately by locals as the Church of St Catherine, it is officially Berlin Cathedral. We trust this puts Your Serene Highness’s mind at rest…” he said. Iroqouis Lands *Great Chief Kirok Chakotay of the Hohinonhsioni has agreed to a defensive alliance with England and to only have his people sell their wares to English merchants, to the exclusion of other Indians, the French and everyone else! He seemed to relish telling Captain William Johnson this, and this gentleman seemed equally content to hear him! Dresden *Prince Augustus of Saxony, King of Poland has been pleased to announce that the threat from Russia is, so far he is concerned, officially over. His Highness explained to his Saxon courtiers that Tsar Peter had written to him in person to say that his armies would not be leaving Russian soil and desired to be at peace with the Polish Commonwealth. “Unless the man is telling monstrous lies, this means the threat of war is over,” Prince Augustus said. Berlin *The Duke of Wurtemburg, having arrived in Berlin in very good time for the upcoming wedding of the Prince of Hesse-Kassel to Princess Louise, has gladly accepted the offered help of the House of Prussia’s Master of Fortresses to oversee fortress works in his duchy, and furthermore would be delighted if an infantry instruction mission could be sent to teach his own foot soldiers how to both cadence march and shoot using the Prussian system of platoon fire. In return he would be happy to provide a regiment of two infantry battalions for service with the Prince of Brandenburg’s Army for the duration of the service given by such a mission? Erzherhog Karl also came early for the wedding as the Kaiser’s representative, but was sorry to discover King Frederick von Hohenzollern is not in Berlin, although he is residing quite close by at Potsdam with his family. Limbani Town *The revolt by Limbani tribesmen has spread with 4,000 men previously loyal to King Limbani joining the rebels this month. King Limbani himself fled for his life to the coast, turning up in Mozambique but vowing to return to reclaim his lands! Phnom Penh *King Thommaracha III of Cambodia has expressed surprise that having West Cochin under his direct rule should be seen by his regent as likely to end in bloodshed. “I appreciate your candour, my regent, but surely with the disbandment of the old royal army there is no-one threatening Saigon?” he suggested. “Of whose blood is it that may be spilled if you do not have direct control? Should you not by now be returning direct control of Cambodia back to me, now the crisis has passed?” The answer may have been given on the streets, because word is starting to spread in Phnom Penh that the Siamese King has uncovered a much greater conspiracy than was first suspected. It is said that the former king (and his family) had in fact made a pact with an overseas power (nobody knows who for sure) to sell out his people in return for gold and riches beyond the dreams of the common man. Apparently, the King of Siam has discovered that the king had planned to disband his army so that Cambodia would not be able to defend itself from foreign takeover and that the people would have been sold off to a life of slavery. Apparently, if the Siamese Army had not arrived when it did the foreign power would have landed their troops and begun rounding up the Cambodian people. It is claimed that the Siamese king will now need to pacify Saigon to truly quench the evil plans of the former king and his conspirators. By their mere presence the Siamese warriors have deterred this wicked plan - so far. It is also being said that the King of Siam knows the full extent of the treachery and has been trying to protect the Cambodian people from the truth and this is why he has been working tirelessly to protect and encourage the people – even using his own money to rebuild the faith. People say that the Regent knows that the only true way to remove the corruption is to ensure that the king never again rules the land, and that he also knows there to be no family heir that can be trusted to take the reigns at the moment. San Francisco *Wintun Indians have complained voraciously that they are now owed 10,000 dentalium shells by the administration of San Francisco under treaty arrangements and would really hope that the Governor of California would stick to his word he gave to them to do so! The governor’s office expressed confusion and surprise at this outburst, having thought the shells had been handed over, but the Wintun are adamant that they have received none for two years now! El Escorial *King Pedro of Portugal & Spain, in a meeting with the Archbishop of Lisbon, Diaz Mendez, said that the Twin-Kingdoms has adopted a policy of supporting the Society of Jesus with conversion work in the American colonies. This began hugely successfully but in recent years has resulted in poor success rates – rightly or wrongly, as soon all taxes on the Church were repealed they stopped working as effectively. This led to a dispute with the Jesuits, and to all their missionaries being placed under the control of Rome. Pedro asked if His Eminence can suggest the means by which the Society can be brought back on-side, since it is after all in the interests of the Church as well? The archbishop looked puzzled. “Well Your Majesty as you know I have always espoused the Jesuits as being the most effective means of conversion, so this news is troubling to me. It might just be that those most willing to convert did so in the early days, and now converts are harder to find - although my latest information is that over a 100,000 souls are being add to the flock of Christ each year, which if correct is surely quite good?” His Majesty then mentioned funding for the introduction of good Christian works: “The Crown is happy to support this if levels of conversions were to significantly increase. I would be willing, as a sign of my personal commitment to the work of the Church, to donate all revenues from my personal estates each year that the missions reach an agreed target of conversions. Do you he feel this incentive would work?” Diaz smiled. “It might work if the funds were provided to help gain the converts up-front since the coin could be employed for good works which may attract people to Christ’s truth. Then in future years if conversions do not increase significantly Your Highness could always withhold funding?” Warsaw *Prussia’s 8th Trayne of three artillery batteries has left Warsaw and is heading north. Its officers possess a permit to traverse Poland while heading directly to either Prussia or Brandenburg. Konigsberg *His Most Christian Majesty King Louis XIV has travelled to Konigsberg in Prussia in order to be here well in time to attend the forthcoming wedding in May. On arriving he was informed by Louis St.-Sivens that there has been a ghastly mistake, since the wedding is taking place in Berlin in Brandenburg, not in Prussia! Arrangements are assumed to now be in hand to see that the King gets to Berlin in time… Regensburg *Reichsvizekanzler Friedrich Karl Graf von Schönborn has shown the Kaiser around Regensburg and the Reichstag in advance of next month’s formal sessional opening and the accompanying customary banquet. His Sacred Majesty was informed that Prince Maximillian Emanuel of Bavaria is not here at present, but as Imperial Arch-Steward he is probably going to arrive next month for the opening of the Imperial Diet, the Reichstag. Hans voln Dalberg, a leading burgher of the Regensburg Council was presented with a fiscal gift and permission was sought to open a theatre, ideally to be named the Kaisertheater, in the city to provide entertainment for both Reichstag delegates and the town’s burghers. He was very appreciative and accepted the money from the Kaiser straight away! The Kaiserin has learnt that Prince-Archbishop Prince Louis von Wittelsbach of Liege-Cologne is in Regensburg in person and fully intends to travel to Altotting next month. People being Much Admired by the Best in Société *Austria *Twin-Kingdoms *England *Prussia *Persia *Asante Union *Hanover *Moghul India *Ottoman Anatolia *Sweden Shipping Lists: Being a Reporte on Knowne Shipping Movements *None. Lloyds Lists: Being a Reporte on Knowne Shipping Losses from Causes Unknowne or Knowne *None. Ambassadorial Appointments *None. Trade Missions Opened *None. Automatically parsed by LGDRParser v1.0 Category:Game 6